GAMA Edition by Odeon

A selection of book covers from the GAMA edition by Odeon. Jiří Rathouský (1924–2003) designed a number of them in the period from 1980 to 1992. The Odeon publishing house was founded in 1925 by Jan Fromek, its original logo was designed by Karel Teige. 

In the 1970s, Jiří Rathouský created a typeface for Odeon, which was exclusively used for the GAMA series. This monolinear rounded geometric sans was called Alphapipe. It is more than just another fashionable typeface in the wake of Avant Garde Gothic. Alphapipe was one of the first complex type systems featuring a number of ligatures and alternative glyphs, to be used like today’s stylistic sets. Thanks to this novel variability, Rathouský was able to choose arbitrary glyph combinations in order to achieve the best possible kerning and maximum graphic impact at the same time.

In 2011, Radek Sidun made a digital version for issue #7 of Komfort Mag. While the original Alphapipe was a single style, the new BC Alphapipe spans five weights, each with italics. Not only does it have all stylistic alternates, but also a set of small capitals.